KEWR (Newark Liberty International Airport ✈ KORD (Chicago - O'Hare International Airport)- Airline: United Airlines
- Airline IATA Code: IATA Code # UA
- Airline IACO Code: IACO Code # UAL
- Airline Callsign: Radio Callsign UNITED
- Airline Flight Number: # UA 224
- Aircraft / Equipment Used for Flight : Boeing 767-322(ER)
- Aircraft / Equipment Registration: Registration # N660UA
- Airline Aircraft / Equipment Fleet Number: # 6460
- Aircraft / Equipment Nationality: United States of America - FAA - Registered Aircraft / Equipment
- Aircraft's First Flight: May 3rd, 1993
- Aircraft's Age as of Date of Flight: 21.6 Years Old as of November 8th, 2014
- Aircraft Test Registration: N660UA
- Aircraft Config: F6C26W71Y80
- Aircraft Construction Number (MSN) : 27115
- Aircraft Line Number: # 494
- Aircraft Delivery Date: May 17th, 1998
- Aircraft Powerplant (s) : 2x PW PW4060
- Aircraft Owned by / Leased from: OWNED by United Continental Holdings
- Meal: Snack
- Cabin: United GlobalFirst Suites First Class
- Seat Assignment: 2A
- A/C Equipped with IFE: Yes, PTVs in all cabins
- A/C Equipped with Wi-Fi Wireless Internet Access: Yes, GoGo InFlight Wi-FI available for purchase
- Airline Flight Date: November 8th, 2014
- Boarding Call Time: 1:15 PM EST, November 8th,2014
- Boarding Zone: 1, Premier Access
- Departure Time: 1:50 PM, November 8th, 2014
- Departure Gate / Jetway: Gate / Jetway C110, Concourse C, EWR
- Arrival Time: 3:21 PM CST, November 8th, 2014
- Arrival Gate / Jetway: Gate / Jetway C16, Concourse C, ORD
- Time Aloft: 1 hour 31 minutes (91 minutes)
- Filed Speed: 460 KIAS
- Filed Cruising Altitude: 32,000 feet
- Flight Distance: Direct: 718 SM | Planned: 809 SM | Flown: 789 SM
- Routing Waypoint (s) : EWR COATE Q436 HERBA Q436 EMMMA WYNDE5 ORD
FLIGHT DATA SOURCE (S):
1.
PlaneSpotters.Net Airframe Data
2.
PlaneSpotters.Net Airline Data
3.
FlightAware Live Flight Tracking Data
4.
First Class | International First Class | United Airlines
5.
North American Premium Cabin Inflight Dining | United Airlines
I arrived at EWR with just 50 minutes to spare (what was I thinking), but still took a bit of time to admire the terminal. EWR is widely lambasted across travel forums and websites, but I don't think that it is truly that bad. The main two problems plaguing the terminal as far as I could see were 1) the heavy reliance on natural light, and 2) the decor was a bit bare.
Looking at EWR's Terminal C (top) reminded me most of MEM (bottom, trip report coming soon).
It's not so bad in here, just a bit barren and the lighting could use some work.
Perfect for me! Though, I am starting to take more one-night trips. Stay tuned...
After printing my boarding passes at the Premier Access "carry-on only queue", I walked over to the security line, but found there was no Premier line. Considering I only had 30 minutes left at that point, I desperately asked an airport worker if there was a Premier Access security lane, and was told it was near the regular check-in lines. I stashed my camera away and sprinted across the terminal, and found the well-hidden priority security line. However, it was loaded as well! Though, I had nothing to lose, so I stood in it anyway, but it was moving so slow that I quickly became very irritated. At one point I commented about some security-related issue and a small brunette behind me agreed with my concerns. We then struck up a bit of small talk, and I snuck a peak at her boarding pass "EWR - FLL - NEWARK TO FORT LAUDERDALE". I have to admit I had to giggle at that one. She seemed like an awesome-enough girl, however I just couldn't take my mind off the flight being less than half an hour from departing and forgot to ask her for her number. faskjlfjkl;adsfk;jljkladsfjlk!!! Oh well, plenty of fish in the sea I suppose. Once I finally made it through the nudoscope and retrieved my bag, my flight was less than 15 minutes away from departing, so I made a run for it to the "finger" that my gate was attached to, only to figure out that gate C110 was at the very end of this very long corridor! My body was begging for mercy at this point however I fought the pain and ran down the corridor. When I finally reached the end, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief as my aircraft was still there and the boarding door was open. I waved to the gate agents and walked over to the window to take a picture of my 767-300, sweat dropping down my forehead, N660UA. After which I boarded the widebody aircraft and was so thankful that my seat was lie-flat...
TEN MINUTES LEFT! RUN COLBY RUN!
Oh thank the lord it is still there! *breathes heavy sigh of relief*
Where's the boarding door?
United GlobalFirst is UA's international first class product featured on all three-class 767-300, 777-200, and 747-400 aircraft. The 767-300 has six first class suites (only two in the center due to lack of space for a second column of suites), the 777-200 (what you're viewing above) has eight suites, and the Grand Poobah 747-400 (which, unfortunately like most Grand Poobahs, will be retired and replaced in position in the not too distant future) has twelve of the spacious seats spread out in the nose on the lower deck.
United GlobalFirst is unfortunately rapidly disappearing on certain aircraft, replaced by the awful B/E diamond PMCO "BusinessFirst" business class product, most evidently on the PMUA 767-300 fleet where even Hemispheres makes a note of the "767-300 Refurbishment Product":
Airliners.Net Photograph Copyright Ⓒ Airliners.Net and Associated Photographer
Ben Wang, Modhop.com Screenshot Copyright Ⓒ Modhop.com and associated owner
Jake Redman
Here you can see this very subpar JC hard product, used not only by UA on their 777-200, 757-200, 767-300, and 767-400 A/Cs but also by Delta Air Lines on their transcontinental and interport 757-200s, and finally AA on their new transcon-configured 321Ts. Not only does the foot rest not reach the ottoman, but the seat is narrow, hard, and you have to turn into a full-fledged circus ringmaster to vacate your seat should your seatmate decide to snooze a bit in full-flat mode...Guess I'll have to enjoy GF while it lasts...
Anyway, back to GlobalFirst. According to several FlyerTalkers in the UAMP forum, this cabin has very little difference in terms of catering even on international legs compared to business class--you'll be lucky if you get a different salad and soup choice than J. This isn't very much different than the case at AA, however, where J/F catering is identical on MIA-LAX (save for some hair-splitting service anomalies).
GlobalFirst on the 767-300 isn't severely different from the 777-200 as seen on my previous report:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...ad.main/260050 , there are just a few small differences. First, to accommodate the very large first class suite there are only two of them in the center row instead four as seen on the 772. Second, there's only a bulkhead and no galley between first and business class, which some fliers might find to be annoying. Finally 2K on the right side of the aircraft has a makeshift curtain setup for crew rest, which I'm pretty sure is not allowed to be used by pax.
Even on domestic flights, UA gives you a duvet, two pillows, and mattress pads on request in GlobalFirst....Bless you, UA...
I'm so happy to be back in this seat, it is literally the most comfortable product I've flown in so far, beating out even AA's 772 Flagship First.
Ahhhhhh.........
The purser up front is a friendly female who inquires about why I'm sweating so much..."First time flier"? No, I just ran half a mile in formal dress shoes so my feet are kind of feeling like I just dipped them in molten lava (sorry feet...), may I please have a glass of Coca-Cola to soothe my muscle cramps? Thanks a ton! Smile My PDP is delivered soon enough and I am very grateful to have a large ottoman to prop my aching legs onto. As I arrive only a mere five minutes before the door is closed, it is only another few minutes before the L1 door is slammed shut, Smisek explains why his pilots are the best in the industry, and I gaze out the window in awe at all the activty in EWR.
Pushback from Gate C110 at EWR.
Brown BBJ, a Gulfstream, and a Maple Lafe-adorned 727...most exciting catch of the trip?
A better view of the brown-striped BBJ. And a cute UA 777 sticking out from behind the hangar.
Turning past the hold short markers onto our runway, another UA 737 already on final behind us.
A very nice bit of wing flex as we blast of from 4L at EWR right past the 737 that was previously on final behind us.
I was just in the city only three hours earlier, I find air travel so amazing...
Cabin at cruise.
Service on this leg was quite brief, and strangely performed in quite a fast manner. Unlike my last GF flight, no warm nuts were handed out, and I only had a single drink service after the initial run. On hub to hub flights, UA provides meals outside of normal windows, however, this also includes "Snack", which basically means a light meal instead of a full one. On this leg, it was a southwestern vegetable and grilled chicken plate with chips and salsa. Since I was craving a bit of desert cuisine I was very pleased by the dish. I only wish I could have gotten some seconds, but planned to get food on the ground in ORD anyway.
After I wolfed down my small snack, I made my bed (shoutout--thanks mom for teaching me how to do that many years ago) and funnily enough as soon as my head hit the cloud-soft pillow I started seeing random things and soon drifted off into an early-evening siesta. With the thick cloth padding, dual pillows, and nice duvet how could I not sleep like a baby? Unfortunately, sleepy-time appears to accelerate your body clock by 10, so not much more than seemingly a few minutes later I was shaken awake by a sweet voice kind of almost humming "Mister McCormack....Mister McCormack?" I groggily folded up my duvet and pillows, placed them away and prepared for landing.
A hot towel and fizzy beverage to start out the meal service, but no warm nuts.
Snack service in GlobalFirst on EWR-ORD, Grilled chicken, roasted corn, shaved carrot, and shredded onion salad with chips and salsa as a side. Very decent and tasty, only wish I could have received a bit more food as you can see the portions are quite tiny.
Continental Airlines in GlobalFirst? That isn't right....Just kidding. It's always a little amusing to see these PMCO glasses in use alongside UA-branded glassware.
Peeking back into Business Class. This is "United Business", the widely panned PMUA J class product that is six-across here and eight across on the 777 and 747. "BusinessFirst" is the PMCO business class product, which the merged UA highly favors (even installing it on all the new 788s) and so do PMCO employees-but their product was not much better with 6 across and no direct aisle access. If it was me, I would rip out United Business and United BusinessFirst and install more GlobalFirst as the system-wide business class product, but alas, that doesn't seem economical (could you fit GlobalFirst on the PMCO 752?), so I don't think there is any chance of that happening.
A much,
much needed nap after my impromptu 5K.
Only to wake up about an hour later on final over Lake Eden.
Heyo, Chicago!
What a beautiful city. The black monolith all the way in the rear is the SEARS Tower (not the Willis crumpet tower or whatever they call it) where UA's headquarters are located. Wouldn't it be awesome to have an office on or near the top floor, watching planes fly by all day? :-)))))
No leaves-trees on short final, something we don't see very much in Florida.
Touchdown.
Aer Lingus A330 EI-EDI
MQ CRJ-700 and ERJ-145
We pulled up right along sister 767-300 N661UA and the jetway attached as soon as it could.
Goodbye N660UA...Such a sweet, gorgeous girl, eh? I'll be back to GF soon, promise... :'[